Taking care of a lawn is like having a big green pet. She needs you to exercise her (which is better exercise for you, or your gardener) and do a bit of grooming, or she gets mangy, the poor thing.
The most important factor in lawn health is being mowed every 2 weeks or so in the growing season, and as needed over Winter. That keeps the grass dense and youthfully green, and most weeds suppressed.
Probably the second most important factor in lawn health, especially lawns on clay soil and any lawns that receive high footfall, is giving them a good old poking with spikes to let the air in and release soil compaction, and raking with a springy rake to pull up the thatch of dead stuff around the base of the grass.
To professional lawn operators, these fresh air workout chores are known as aerating and scarifying.
You aerate during dry weather in either Spring or Autumn, sometimes both in problem areas of heavy soil plus high traffic (especially in wet weather).
Although it’s raining now as I post this, we’ve got plenty of dry, mild-to-warm October days forecast ahead: perfect lawn care time.
You want the soil to be a little moist and firm, neither dry and hard nor wet, soft and squelchy. When the ground is wet, the best thing is for you kids to stay off your own lawn!
Do I need to Scarify My Lawn Before Aerating?
You can do it either way.
- The efficient home gardener who simply wants the chore done will usually aerate first, which creates a mess of soil fragments, then scarify over that mess, breaking it up, then tidy up once at the end.
- A professional gardener who wants to leave a pristine clean finish will typically scarify first, tidy up all those little bits of dry grass etc (they’ll blow all over the garden in dry windy weather), then aerate over a clean surface, and tidy up a second time.
This way is also best when using an aeration machine on a neglected lawn with thick thatch, because it lets the machine get snug against the soil without a thatch buffer reducing its penetration depth.
Doing it the second, extra tidy way is a bit better if you are going to seed the lawn and top dress it.
The holes will be nice and clear for the seeds and topdressing to enter, which gives the best germination rate.
However, plenty of gardeners do it the first way, saving time and energy; they sow their seeds and top dress over slightly messy holes, and their germination rate is fine.
So, do it now: plan a day in the next fortnight after a forecast of several dry days for this bracing task, or book your local friendly lawncare guys.